


Out of This World

by sunalso



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: F/F, Green Chile, New Mexico, Post-Series, Road Trip
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-28
Updated: 2017-12-28
Packaged: 2019-02-22 20:23:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13174527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunalso/pseuds/sunalso
Summary: Faith and Tara are on the road in New Mexico, where there’s plenty of sun, sand, green chile, and maybe even something unexpected.Beta'd by Gort.Written for the 2017 Buffy Femslash Secret Santa exchange for Captain_Forehead for the prompt: roadtrip.





	Out of This World

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Captain_Forehead](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Captain_Forehead/gifts).



****

Faith was not impressed. New Mexico was brown and dusty and there was next to nothing to do. Unless you were a jackrabbit or someone looking to hide, this was not the place to be.

The desert scrub stretched into the distance on either side of I-40, even the dawn creeping over the horizon couldn’t do much to soften the landscape. It was empty and hard…Faith cursed. Maybe she didn’t like it so much because it was too much like the landscape inside her. At least the ocean, palm trees, and crowded sidewalks of Los Angeles were a distraction.

She glanced over at the reason she’d agreed to take this trip in the first place. Tara, blonde hair loose around her shoulders, sat in the passenger seat of the Faith’s vintage 1980s red Firebird. She yawned, and Faith found herself doing the same. It was stupidly early in the morning. They’d stayed at some flea-bitten hotel the night before, which disappointingly had only had a room with two beds and even more disappointingly had a roach in the bathtub. Faith had spent a half hour catching the damn thing and carrying it outside because Tara wouldn’t let her squish it.

The adoring look in Tara’s eyes had made the whole shebang worth it. 

Faith and Tara had been…well, fuck if Faith knew what they were doing. They were sort of friends, but maybe more, or maybe not. Tara had been slow to rejoin the land of the living after Willow had died. Tara had nearly lost her own life to a bullet and losing someone she loved on top of that, it’d made her withdraw. Faith had barely noticed her during that whirlwind year fighting the First in Sunnydale, but afterward, when the dust had slowly settled and everyone had ended up in Los Angeles, Tara had become harder and harder to ignore.

She was the opposite of Faith: soft, shy, warm. Tara really listened and could be quietly supportive with no judgment. At some point, Faith had found herself hanging out more with Tara then with any of the new Slayers, Buffy, or what remained of Angel and his team. Tara was something Faith had never had before, a safe place to land.

One day, wanting to be around had changed to wanting to know what Tara’s lips tasted like or if her skin was as soft as it looked. Faith was almost sure Tara was attracted to her, but she didn’t know how to ask. Tara wasn’t some random person Faith was going to pick up for a one-night stand, and she didn’t have any experience going the long haul with someone, but Tara made her want to try. Faith just didn’t know how to tell her that. Now she wasn’t sure where she stood with Tara, so when Giles had asked them to head to New Mexico to check out a rash of reports talking about mysterious lights in the desert, Faith had jumped at the chance. So far exactly zero had happened, but there was still time.

Faith wasn’t used to her courage failing her, but she’d never wanted something real like this before.

It was terrifying and exhilarating. She tightened her hands on the Firebird’s wheel. This wasn’t something she could screw up.

A billboard caught her eye.

“Hey, you want some breakfast?” Faith asked.

“Does it require me to open my eyes?”

“In, like, thirty minutes. There was an ad for someplace in Albuquerque known for their cinnamon buns.”

That got Tara’s attention. “Really?

Faith smiled. It felt good to get something right.

****

The restaurant was totally western kitsch. ‘The Frontier’ the sign on the front read and the inside was filled with paintings and decorations of the old West. It was pretty awesome, actually, but Faith was playing it cool. Tara, on the other hand, was staring round-eyed at everything and eagerly pointing out her favorites. It was making the whole thing more fun. Tara had that kind of magic, the kind that made the world seem a less tired place to be in, even for a Slayer.

Carrying the tray, Faith followed behind Tara, who chose a table next to an oversized picture of John Wayne.

“This thing’s the size of my head,” Tara said, picking up a fork and poking at the cinnamon bun.

“If that’s your head, this is my arm.” Faith was appalled at the sheer size of the breakfast burrito she’d ordered. It was going to require a knife and fork to eat, and maybe some other people to finish it up. And more green chiles. Those things were yummy. She cut herself a bite.

“Do you think we’re actually going to find anything out there?” Tara asked, her mouth full. There were drops of sticky sugar on her lips, making them glisten. Faith wanted to lean over and lick them off. Instead, she casually leaned back against her chair.

“Hell if I know. Giles must think something’s up, otherwise, he would have sent a couple of the baby Slayers, but he must not have expected the worst since he didn’t send Buffy and Spike.”

Tara giggled. “Like they would have been useful, they’d probably just be out in the desert sucking face all night.”

Faith rolled her eyes and hunched forward a little, pretending she hadn’t just been thinking about doing something similar with Tara. “Yeah. They make me ill.” She stabbed another piece of her burrito.

“Love can be nice,” Tara said.

Faith didn’t look up, just stuffed the bite into her mouth and nodded. She dumped some of her extra chile on the next piece she cut.

Tara, ever perceptive, changed the topic. “Do you really like that stuff?”

“I’m eating it, aren’t I?”

“That’s not an answer.”

Faith tapped the handle of her knife on the table. “It tastes good. You should try it.”

“You still didn’t tell me if you like it.”

Faith finally looked up at Tara, who was smiling slightly. “Fine. Have it your way. I like it. There, happy?”

The smile got a little wider. “Did it hurt to say it?”

Faith made a face. “I think I broke my arm.”

Tara reached over and patted Faith’s shoulder. “There, there. Maybe I should kiss it and make it better?”

Faith’s heart jumped sideways in her chest. The teasing tone, the happy expression, the warmth in Tara’s eyes. Faith’s knee jiggled up and down.

“I’ll ask again later,” Tara said gently. She cut another bite of cinnamon roll and slowly wrapped her lips around it.

Faith’s knee bounced faster.

****

The desert didn’t look quite as ugly as it had that morning as twilight unfurled across the vast sky. They were somewhere south and east of Albuquerque, pretty much in the exact middle of nowhere. The paved road had turned into a gravel road, which had become a dirt road, that’d led to an eventual dead end. There was sagebrush, scrub, and lots of rocks leading off to distant hills and mesas.

Faith had parked the Firebird and pulled a bunch of blankets and pillows out from the backseat and Tara had set up a kind of nest on the hood of the car. There were quilts under them for padding and a few on top, since it was spring and the nights were still chilly.  They were seated on the hood and reclined against the car’s windshield.

“This is sort of silly,” Faith said. “A couple people say they see some fast moving, low flying lights and a witch and a slayer end up staring up at the sky in an open field?”

Beside her, Faith could feel Tara shrug. “It’s been a pretty persistent rumor.”

“It’s probably just a helicopter or drug smugglers or something.”

“Or something.”

In the distance, coyotes howled in an eerie chorus.

Faith shivered.

Tara rolled on her side towards Faith. “Don’t tell me you’re scared?”

“I don’t know about being out in…in…”

“Nature?”

“Yeah.” Faith fidgeted with a loose thread on one of the blankets. A star appeared in the sky as dusk started to become night. “I know how to survive in the city. There I’m all five by five. Here…I don’t know anything about how to stay alive unless it’s something I kill because it tries to kill me first. I guess that wouldn’t be anything new.”

Tara let out a small sigh. “You don’t have to worry. I know a thing or two about being outdoors, and I think we have enough Twinkies and soda to survive for the next three months.”

Faith snorted and kept her eyes on the sky, now a deep purple with more stars making themselves visible.

“What else are you scared of, Faith?” Tara curled a strand of Faith’s dark hair around her finger and gently tugged.

Faith thought about lying. Saying something dumb like spiders or heights, but they were out here, alone, with no one else around for miles. There was no reason to run or hide. “You,” she said, her voice barely more than a whisper.

“Me?” Tara sounded completely confused. “You’re scared of me?”

Faith laughed softly. “Not that you’re going to make me into a newt.” She yanked harder on the thread, but it stayed stubbornly attached to the quilt. “I think I’m saying it wrong. I’m not frightened of you. Just…how I feel about you.”

“Oh.”

Faith bit her lip and closed her eyes when Tara didn’t say anything further. Fuck. Faith had thought that maybe Tara had been feeling the same, but it was probably a whole bunch of wishful thinking bullshit and…

Soft.

Tara’s lips were soft and her body warm and luscious. She’d rolled so she was halfway on Faith, smushing her slightly against the Firebird’s windshield. It was a nice smush. Faith wrapped her arms around Tara, holding her close.

When Tara broke the kiss and they were both panting for air, Faith looked up into Tara’s eyes, which were hard to read in the darkness.

“I like you,” Faith said, her voice husky.

“I like you too, it’s why I kissed you.”

“Oh. That makes sense.” Faith laughed. “I…I’m bi…bisexual.”

Tara blew out a breath. “And I’m a lesbian and the sky is blue. Any other really obvious things we should state?”

“I just thought I should say it, because some people—”

“I’m so not some people.”

Faith cupped Tara’s cheek. “You got that fucking right.”

Their mouths met again, hungry for each other. Faith’s hand slid down Tara’s back, found the gap between her blouse and skirt, and brushed over the bare skin there.

Tara gasped and shuddered in Faith’s arms, which made Faith bolder. She inched her fingers under Tara’s top until she found the strap of Tara’s bra. Faith slipped a finger under it and traced back and forth, delighted by how Tara wiggled and moaned.

Faith closed her hand over the bra’s fastenings when a blindingly bright white light flared to life from above.

Tara squeaked and rolled off Faith onto her back.

Hovering above the Firebird was…something. It was more than three times the size of the car, roughly triangular in shape, and had three lights which were spotlighting the car, throwing the surrounding desert into stark relief.

“Hey! Close Encounters!” Faith shouted. “No free shows!”

The…something spun lazily overhead, then darted straight up, soundlessly and incredibly fast, until it had disappeared among the stars.

“Was that…what I think it was?” Tara asked in a tiny voice.

Faith snorted. “It was probably a weather balloon.”

“I’m sure,” Tara said with a giggle. “I suppose we should go tell Giles about our weather balloon sighting? I can tell him I didn’t get any scary, negative feeling from said weather balloon.” 

Faith sat forward and put her head in her hands. “Yeah, sure.” She didn’t know if Tara was going to try and pretend what had been happening before the…something had shown up, hadn’t been happening. It might have been more of a fluke than the lights.

Tara rubbed Faith’s back. “No pouting. We can stop and get one of the green chile cheeseburgers you like so much, and I bet we can find a motel that only has one room with a single bed left to rent.”

“Okay,” Faith said. “That doesn’t sound so bad.” She leaped off the hood of the car and paused. “Are you going to bitch the whole time that I taste like green chiles?” Inside her heart was beating a million times a minute. That didn’t sound like Tara was going to pretend to forget at all.

Tara blushed. “Maybe I don’t mind them so much after all.” She gathered up the blankets and pillows. “And maybe we’re going to need a nice, long trip here to explore all kinds of interesting…phenomenon.”

“I like the sound of that.”

Tara caught Faith’s eye. “Me too.”

Overhead, a shooting star streaked across the heavens.


End file.
